Police wear pyjamas in bed to protest work conditions
Police officers have taken to the streets to protest against their working conditions and lack of a private life - wearing pyjamas, night caps, and lying on a bed.
The police officers gathered outside a Paris police station in the 13th arrondissement, responding to a call from union Unité-SGP.
Their protest centred on what they called the poor working conditions of public service policemen.
The trio in the bed - three policemen wearing pyjamas and nightcaps (and brandishing loudhailers), surrounded by their colleagues - wore the outfits to symbolically demonstrate how blurred they feel the lines are between their working life and private life.
Speaking to news source Sputnik News on a video published on Twitter, a police major explained: “We decided to bring the bed, the pillows, the sheets, to show that the police officer is permanently expected to be at work...we brought the bed in the hope that we will be able to get some rest before the next shift.
“Because we have a problem in the police, which does not allow us a private life. Sometimes if we finish at 17h, we have no idea what time we might be required back later or the next day.
"And, if we have a rest day planned, we might get a call the night before, saying, ‘No, you’ve got to come in tomorrow’, and we can’t say no. It must change.”
Rococo Contento, of union Unité-SGP, said: “We are demanding the opening of a major project on the social recognition of the work of Parisian police officers.
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“We are always asked to do more and more, and simply setting up more ‘security staff’ is not going to help alleviate the police force’s discomfort.”
In reference to proposed police reforms by interior minister Gérard Collomb, Mr Contento added: “We are streamlined, we cooperate; we are asked to rationalise our resources and our manpower, but in doing so, we are asked to abandon the human being.”
